Quite impressive

24Jan

I was waiting for the 422 AC bus at Andheri station….it runs from Agarkar Chowk, Andheri East to Mulund station. Though the bus fare is double compared to the general non AC bus, I still like it because of its comfortable service. Actually I use to sleep for the whole journey to IIT, Powai. In Mumbai you have to be in queue for traveling in both bus, trains and auto rickshaws. Just like the other days, I was standing in the queue. The bus was also standing at the stand, but the driver did not open the door till then. Our line became so long that we had to make a curve of it….the blue dressed transport police asked me to make a U turn so that the people standing in the other line for another buses could be comfortable in boarding. I followed his order and kept waiting for the opening of the door of our bus.

At that time, one bus stopped there. It came from Juhu. The passengers started getting down from the bus. The blue dressed police asked every one for the tickets and checked them properly. Among the passengers, he found one well dressed girl traveling without ticket. He charged the girl for the penalty of traveling without ticket in front of the public. The girl argued a bit with the police, but he did not listen a single word. He simply asked her for the fine and gave her the receipt of the fine payment. Her logic of being hurry while getting in the bus did not work in front of the police. Ultimately she had to pay the fine. The whole incident caught my eye.

Agarkar Chowk is the busiest bus stand I have seen in Mumbai. Within minutes, many buses have to run from this stand. The situation becomes some times a bit irritating also. But the blue dressed police and the conductors control the environment very nicely with the co-operation of the public.

In the trains also, if some one is found by the Ticket Checker, traveling in the compartments reserved for the physically handicapped and ladies, they will be fined immediately without any excuses. In afraid of the penalty, I have seen people getting down immediately from those compartments in which they are not allowed to travel. People will stand in the long queue before the ticket counters instead of trying to travel without tickets. In the buses also, the seats reserved for the senior citizens, physically handicapped are never blocked by other persons.

I have found these systems quite impressive which Mumbai follows every day.